Socceroos lose to USA in disappointing World Cup outing
‘It’s not good enough.’
The Socceroos’ World Cup campaign has taken a major hit, crushed by the USA at Seattle Stadium on Friday afternoon (local time).
The Aussies failed to produce the magic that powered them to an electric win over Turkey, and were off to a nervy start against the hosts.
They were down 2-0 at half-time, with the USA going on to win by that margin.
Unlike the game against Turkey, the Socceroos looked all at sea in defence in the first half, and lacked connection and spark.
“It’s not good enough,” Australian legend Harry Kewell said at half-time.
“It feels like we’ve frozen on the big stage. There’s no fluidity. We’re on the back foot. We’re not connecting one or two passes. The USA have obviously looked at how we’ve played. They’ve changed slightly the formation and that’s just locked us in and then we look panicky on the ball.
“We’re just getting the ball and kicking it long …. they’ve put us on the back on the foot and been able to connect in the wide areas and make us look terrible.”
Fellow SBS commentator Kevin-Prince Boateng was also baffled by the lapses in defence and did not understand how the USA had so many free players.
“How is that possible? (They) come in as a defensive side and the defence must be the strongest. How can they be so free … I don’t understand,” he said.
“I said from the beginning, ‘(they will need ) fireworks’. I don’t see any fireworks from the Socceroos …. something has to change.”
The US, without injured star Christian Pulisic, battered Australia on and off the ball all day and took the lead in the 11th minute when defender Cameron Burgess turned a wicked ball from Folarin Balogun into his own net.
Alex Freeman then dealt the Socceroos a hammer blow by bundling home a header — that was initially ruled offside but cleared by VAR — to double the co-hosts’ lead in the 43rd.
The Socceroos came alive in the second half, and produced some meaningful shots on goal at around the 60 minute mark, but they failed to find the net.
Questions will be asked of Socceroos manager Tony Popovic, who dropped goalscorers Nestory Irankunda and Connor Metcalfe to the bench for the start of the blockbuster clash with the US.
Popovic turned to Irankunda and Metcalfe at halftime but Australia could not claw their way back into the match, while Mathew Leckie hobbled off injured on the hour mark to add to the horror afternoon.
Australia’s hopes of progression and sealing a top-two berth will come down to their final group match against Paraguay on June 25 (June 26 AEST) after the nightmare afternoon at Seattle Stadium.
After the match Popovic was asked what went wrong in the first half.
Socceroos fans react to loss against World Cup hosts USA
“I don’t know if it was the occasion, but we looked sluggish, heavy legged. They were quicker, they were more powerful,” the Australian manager said.
“They won every duel, they won every second ball, and when you do that, it makes it very difficult to gain any momentum, and then we conceded two soft goals, but I thought the reaction in the second half was outstanding.
“When you think (about) this noise here, host nation, I think the players showed how good they are in the second half, but obviously, at this level you can’t give away that much in the first.”
Popovic did not buy into questions about his selection decisions, and simply said “every game’s different”.
“We had a lot of fatigued bodies in the first half, physically and mentally. It was tough, but (but we had an) outstanding second half so we’ve got to build on that,” he said.
He admitted that some his young players may have been overwhlemed by the by the blockbuster match and the noisy home crowd, but was happy with the response.
“Look, there’s a lot of players here for the first time without that experience,” he said.
“(But) you have to also look at the reaction, and the reaction was very good. We did very well in the second half. We created opportunities, we were very aggressive, we won all the duels in the second half.
“So when you do that, you have a chance so there’s something to build on for the next match.”